The heavy cedar door of the Ferry Kitchen swung open into the cold dawn drizzle, admitting Captain Kray and twelve academy wardens in glistening black oilskin capes and leather helmets. They carried heavy oak truncheons at their belts, but their steps were hesitant. Their boots shuffled uncomfortably across the scrubbed limestone flat stone slabs of the back kitchen.
Instead of an armed barricade of desperate mechanics, they found the kitchen brightly lit by three brass animal fat lamps and a roaring hearth fire. At the long frame stand table sat Pella Rook, Eren Tal, Jo Saye, and Sister Merrow. She was surrounded by stacks of freshly baked sourdough crusts and steaming mugs of dark boiled tea. In the corner behind them, Town Auditor Varo Nenn sat with his field desk, his glasses glinting with cold office disapproval.
Captain Kray took off his leather helmet, his weathered face gray with shame as he looked at Eren Tal, then at Pella Rook. In his right hand, he held the rolled calfskin warrant bearing Master Davin Sorell’s cracked red seal.
‘Candidate Rook,’ Kray said, his voice hoarse and strained. ‘By order of the Collegiate Senate and Chapter Seven of the Antiquities Code, I’m commanded to take the brass arch standing in your back kitchen into protective town custody.’
